Open house set for one-room schoolhouse

Wednesday

Oct 4, 2017 at 10:02 AMOct 4, 2017 at 2:30 PM

Howard Frank Pocono Record Writer @PoconoHFrank

A special open house for the one-room schoolhouse known as the Frantz School is scheduled at 1 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 7 in Eldred Township. This is only the third time in 70 years that the school has been opened to the general public.

The Frantz School, at 485 Church Road, dates back to the mid-1800s.

In 1855 the Town of Eldred had seven one-room schoolhouses, according to Tony Giordano, who with his wife Rene led the renovations. Students sat in rows on benches and took notes with chalk on pieces of slate. It was the same slate that the roof of the school was made from.

All grades — from the first to the eighth were taught in that one room. The room was heated by a simple potbelly stove and light was provided by large windows on three walls. The fourth wall was filled with a huge chalkboard.

The desks are made of wood with wrought-iron legs. The units are attached to each other in the front and back to form two columns. The desktops have a hole to hold an ink well and a small indent to keep the student’s pencils from rolling off.

Ninety years later, with the advent of school buses, the students were consolidated from the Frantz, Barlieb, Christman, Correll, Smith Gap and Kleintop schools at the Gower School.

Each of these schools were named for the family on whose property the school stood and today.

"These names are not just reflected in the names of roads but in the descendants of these civic-minded families still living in Eldred," Giordano said.

The Barlieb, Christman and Gower buildings are gone. The Kleintop and Smith Gap were saved and repurposed as homes. The Correll schoolhouse is too deteriorated to be saved, but the Frantz School has been refurbished.

Visitors will be able to stand in the old schoolhouse and see the original desks and chalk board.

The schoolhouse and grounds are being repaired and maintained by a group of neighbors. For more information on how to help, email churchroad@gmail.com.